1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a file management system, a file management method, and a storage medium, and particularly to a file management system having a plurality of files stored therein and having a file list which is a list of the stored files, a file management method applied to the file management system, and a storage medium for storing a program for executing the file management method.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, there is known an image management system in which a manuscript image such as a document or a drawing is read and appropriately edited and the image is recorded to a magnetic disk or an optical magnetic disk for a management.
In general, in this type of an image management system, image information obtained by reading a manuscript image is compressed before being recorded to a hard disk or an optical disk. In addition, index information for an image search is related to the image information for recording.
A required image is searched for from this index information and the image information is read out to be displayed on a display unit or the image is output to a record sheet by a printer. Furthermore, various types of image processing such as adding, editing, or processing an image is performed, if necessary.
Referring to FIGS. 16A and 16B, there is shown a block diagram of a constitution of a conventional and general image filing system. FIG. 16A illustrates a constitution for scanning a manuscript using a scanner and storing the image in a document data base. A scanner 120 electrically reads a manuscript and converts the read image to digital signals using a photoelectric conversion element or the like. A scanner control portion 121 controls an operation of the scanner 120.
An index input portion 123 inputs an index for the read image. A data base management portion 122 manages the index and the image. A document data base 124 is used for storing image or index information.
First, an image read from a manuscript with the scanner 120 is sent to the data base management portion 122 via the scanner control portion 121. In the data base management portion 122, index information inputted from the index input portion 123 is added to the image received from the scanner control portion 121 and they are stored in the document data base 124.
FIG. 16B illustrates a constitution for searching for a desired image from the document data base by using a search portion. A document data base 130 is used for storing images and indices therefor. A data base management portion 131 manages the document data base 130.
A search portion 132 searches for a desired image from the document data base 130 and it searches for an image according to search conditions inputted from a search condition input portion 133. A search results list management portion 134 manages search results. A reference numeral 135 indicates a search results list. The search results list management portion 134 is capable of giving instructions on sending image information to an image display portion 141 via an image display control portion 140 to display the image or on sending image information to a printer 143 via a printer control portion 142 to print out the image regarding the document which has been searched for on the basis of the search results list 135.
In the above conventional image management system, however, there are problems described below and an improvement of the problems has been desired. In other words, a document recording operation is separated from a search operation.
Also in the recording operation, fixed procedures have been used for the image scanning and the index input operation. Furthermore, in the recording operation, the document recording and the index input operation have been performed for each document.
Therefore, an operator must perform the scanning and the index input operation alternately, which makes operations complicated and leads to a low productivity. Additionally, due to the separation of the recording operation from the search operation, an incorrect data inputted by an incorrect operation must be modified following a search operation after the recording operation is terminated, which requires a lot of operation steps and operation time.
It is the same regarding a document display; a lot of operation steps and operation time are required during an index input operation, for example, for displaying images on other documents for reference.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to provide a document management system, its method, and a storage medium, having improved operability by integrating a search operation, an image recording operation, and an index input operation so that a plurality of documents can be processed at a time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a file management system, its method, and a storage medium, in which a file image display and a printing operation can also be easily operated on an integrated document list.
According to one aspect, it is an object of the present invention to provide a file management system comprising an input means for inputting image information, index information input means for inputting index information related to the image information, a file management means for managing the image information and the index information as an image file, a display control means for controlling to display a plurality of image files managed by the file management means as a file list, and an input control means for controlling an input order of the input means and the index information input means so that it can be selected when recording image files in the file list.